344 civilians killed by Turkish operations in Kurdistan since 1991: Report

Julian Bechocha
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish military operations in the Kurdistan Region have killed 344 civilians since they began over three decades ago, a conflict monitor said in a report on Wednesday, as Ankara’s military offensive continues to displace civilians, cause significant environmental damage, and devastate Kurdish village life near the border. 

Turkey has launched repeated large scale operations and conducted military strikes across the border into the Kurdistan Region since the 1980s under the pretext of targeting Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). These operations have killed and injured hundreds of civilians, caused large-scale damage to the environment and civilian infrastructure, and displaced villagers from their homes as Turkish forces exert control over the border region. 

Iran has also targeted Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region.

“Extensive military operations by Turkish and Iranian military forces have resulted in forced displacement, environmental damage, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and socioeconomic hardship,” said a report by the US-based Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organization and conflict monitor tracking these operations. 

The total civilian death toll from Turkish military operations in the Kurdistan Region is 344, the monitor said, with another 358 civilians injured.

In total, the Turkish Armed Forces are responsible for 83 percent of civilian casualties inside the Kurdistan Region. Iranian military attacks make up the rest. 

The number of casualties has increased since 2018 with the start of Ankara’s “Claw” operations against the PKK. A significant 39% of total casualties have been recorded during this timeframe, according to the report. 

“Particularly concerning is that 28% of the casualties are children,” it said, with 79 children killed and 116 injured. 

In July, Turkey sent hundreds of troops and military vehicles into the Kurdistan Region, establishing checkpoints and military patrols in and around the Amedi district of Duhok province. This latest military campaign has instilled fear in villagers. A number of villages have been abandoned as farmers have watched their livelihoods go up in flames sparked by the conflict. 

The recent escalation in attacks is part of Turkey’s plans to eradicate the PKK along its southern border with the Kurdistan Region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in March that Ankara is close to completing a zone that will “permanently resolve” the security issues along their border with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq by the summer.

Turkey has already secured approximately 86% of the border area, the CPT said, including the Metina mountain range in Duhok province, which the conflict monitor said “is almost completely under Turkish military control.” 

Last month, the CPT said that Ankara had already advanced 15 kilometers into the Region’s territory. 

According to the CPT, Turkey’s military bases inside the Kurdistan Region number a staggering 74, and its operations have displaced thousands of people from at least 170 villages. Another 602 villages are at risk of being abandoned. 

The majority of civilian casualties from Turkish attacks are in Duhok province, with 44 percent, followed by Erbil and Sulaimani. The areas of Amedi, Sidakan, Zakho, and Mergasor remain the most affected by the Turkey-PKK war. 

On Tuesday night, Turkish helicopters bombarded Guharze village and a villager told Rudaw English that Ankara’s relentless military strikes have been triggering numerous wildfires in the area.
 

The PKK is a Kurdish group that has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state for decades in the struggle for greater Kurdish rights and is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has yet to comment on the latest escalations in its territory but its interior ministry told reporters last month that Baghdad, Erbil, and Ankara were discussing the matter.

“The presence of the PKK gives [Turkey] an excuse to carry out such activities. The presence of the PKK is illegal,” said Minister Reber Ahmed. “The PKK should leave these areas so that residents of these villages no longer have to be displaced.” 

Turkey also targets the PKK and its alleged proxies through air and drone strikes elsewhere in Iraq, such as the Makhmour district and the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) in northwestern Nineveh province, near the Syrian border. 

CPT also accused Turkey of assimilation and media censorship inside Kurdistan Region’s territory, particularly in the Bermiza area of northeastern Erbil province’s Sidakan subdistrict.

“In that area, Turkey has installed its own telecommunications towers and equipment, censoring most Kurdish-language media and replacing it with Turkish-language media, representing a form of cultural assimilation,” it said, explaining that the Turkish telecommunication towers significantly disrupt local networks. 

This has had a profound effect on Bermiza’s youth and “led to a situation where the younger generation of Kurdish children is unable to speak Kurdish fluently but can speak in Turkish.”